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Hands up: who’d like a 27″ Cintiq-alike pen display?

Perceptive Pixel demos its 82″ touchscreen LCD display at Siggraph last year. The developer has just launched an active stylus system for both the 82″ screen and its rather more desktop-sized 27″ counterpart.

Apple may have been making all the headlines last week with its patent for an ‘iPen’ haptic stylus for tablet devices, but Perceptive Pixel has a major advantage over the Mac giant: its technology is already available.

The firm, whose 82″ multitouch displays were used in CNN’s coverage of the 2008 US Presidential election, began shipping its active stylus system this month, both for the 82″ screen and its desktop-sized 27″ sibling.

It would be tempting to call the 27″ display a giant Wacom Cintiq – which, of course, it isn’t.

But the system does support pressure sensitivity, distinguishes stylus from finger movements, and automatically filters out your palm and forearm, enabling you to rest your hand on the screen as you draw.

Perceptive Pixel says that its technology will “enable professionals from every industry to recapture the way they work with pen and paper”, a claim borne out by the (non-embeddable) demo on the company’s homepage.

The video shows Senior Research Scientist Philip Davidson seamlessly switching between stylus and gesture control, much as if he were shuffling papers on a desk.

Best of all, the 27″ stylus display is available now. The only drawback? It’s price on enquiry, meaning that if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.